Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

France Set to Ban Mobile Phones in Schools

French lawmakers have secured a deal on a bill that would outlaw the use of mobiles phones in schools starting in September, one of Emmanuel Macron’s pledges during last year’s presidential campaign.

Senators and National Assembly deputies reached the agreement late Wednesday on the ban for all three tiers of French education (primary, middle and high school), except for educational purposes.

Students will now have “the right to disconnect,” Cathy Racon Bouzon, a deputy in Macron’s Republic on the Move (LREM) party, tweeted on Thursday.

Teachers have been calling for the ban to curtail a growing distraction in classrooms, with nearly nine out of ten French teens aged 12 to 17 now owning a smartphone.

Besides cutting down on screen time, the bill also aims to protect children from dangerous online content such as violence or pornography, as well as cyberbullying.

It also makes it easier for teachers to confiscate phones if necessary.

Each school will decide how to apply the ban, for example by making students hand them over when entering school premises or requiring them to keep them turned off in their backpacks.

Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer had defended the government’s plan in June as “a law for the 21st century” and the “technological revolution”.

Critics have called the bill a “purely cosmetic” attempt at resolving the battle schools face against mobile phones, pointing out that schools already have the option of banning phones.

But research shows that many pupils admit to having broken such rules.

And an extensive US study released Tuesday found that heavy use by teens of digital media such as texting, streaming and social networks could be linked to a rise in symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The bill is scheduled for final votes in the Senate on July 26 and the National Assembly on July 30.

 

(NAN)

 

___

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2018 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

News

France on Friday rejected the Niger junta’s attempt to revoke bilateral military agreements, claiming that only the nation’s “legitimate” leadership was qualified to do...

News

The United States President, Joe Biden and France’s President, Emmanuel Macron have expressed outrage at the discovery of mass graves with 440 Ukrainians in...

News

French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the UAE leader in a bid to secure energy supplies from the oil-rich Gulf country as Europe prepares...

News

French President Emmanuel Macron believes “the worst is to come” in Ukraine after a phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin who appears intent...

Copyright ©